Notice
by A. Zap
Summary: Since she left the Horde, Adora has begun to notice more and more things, especially when it comes to Catra. Lonnie reveals that there may be even more things that she hadn't realized before. It turns out that ignorance really is not bliss. Femslash February Day 21: Ignorance (Lonnie is featured prominently but she doesn't have a tag.)


Adora leaned against the wall, watching Catra as she immersed herself in strategizing.

She was a bit ashamed that she had never noticed just how smart and skilled Catra was until she had been her enemy. Sure, she had thought that her best friend was great, but with Catra skipping or just waiting until the right moment, she hadn't gotten to see much of it. Afterward, Catra had proved herself over and over again in a way that Adora would've been impressed with if she hadn't been working against her. But now that Catra had become their ally, Adora could watch as she was completely in her element, easily working in tandem with Queen Angella and Glimmer to plan their next assault on the Horde. She'd obviously done her studying as she assigned everyone to roles that best suited their skills.

How had Adora never noticed any of this before?

"Ugh, if it's not her staring at you, it's you staring at her." Adora jumped and whirled towards Lonnie, who at some point had sauntered up to stand next to her. Lonnie looked from Adora to Catra and back. "I swear, you never did this back in the Horde days." Lonnie leaned against the wall. "Or at least, not so overtly."

"Lonnie." Adora flashed her a smile that she just knew was more like a grimace. "How have you been?"

Adora admittedly had not talked to her former squadmates much. Catra or Scorpia were usually the ones who came to the meetings here in Bright Moon, with Entrapta frequently tagging along. A few other former Horde members would usually come along, acting almost as guards, but Adora hadn't had much one on one time with them.

Still, Adora was surprised that Lonnie of all people would be escorting Catra. The two had never really gotten along.

"I've been worse." Lonnie said as she turned her attention back towards the strategy meeting.

Adora waited a beat for her to say more, but nothing came. She frowned, her forehead furrowing. Lonnie had started this conversation, so why wasn't she saying anything? "Uh, is there something - "

"You know Catra wasn't the only one upset by you leaving, right?"

Adora blinked. "What?"

"We were your friends, too." Lonnie was glaring at Catra, but Adora was 70% sure that it wasn't directed at her. "Sure, you and Catra were thick as thieves, but we thought you were our friend. And you leaving hurt us, too. Though naturally, Catra's reaction was the worst."

Adora wasn't going to lie, while she had had some regret with leaving Catra in the Horde, she really hadn't thought much about the others.

"Was it really that bad?" Adora asked. "I mean, you, Catra, and the others all had one another."

Lonnie slowly turned her head towards Adora and gave her a blank look. Adora fidgeted under her gaze until she finally said, "Oh my stars, Catra wasn't kidding."

"What?"

"You really don't notice. Could it be you _really _didn't realize the Horde was evil until you literally saw the destruction?"

"I - " Adora looked away. "Look, what does that have to do with - "

"Catra was never our friend."

Adora stilled. "What?"

"Catra wasn't our friend." Lonnie repeated. "You were our friend, but she wasn't. And she knew it. Didn't you ever notice how she'd make herself scarce whenever you hung out with us?"

Well, now that she thought about it, Catra did seem to have been absent whenever she was with the other members of their squad outside of the usual training. But she had never really noticed anything unusual. Catra liked her solitude every now and then, going off to explore and prowl around the Fright Zone's nooks and crannies.

"What? I thought we were all friends." Adora raked through her memories for more hints. "Why wouldn't you have been friends?"

The look Lonnie was giving her reminded her of Catra's face when Adora said something she thought was stupid. "You were Shadow Weaver's favorite. Catra was the pet she just barely let you keep. It was quickly clear which one of you was more beneficial to befriend. Why _would_ we have been friends?"

Something in Adora shuddered at that. She… she thought that maybe she had heard Shadow Weaver refer to Catra like that before, but she had never imagined the others would've picked up on it, too. And if that's how they thought of her, then…

Well, it made sense that Catra wouldn't have wanted to be friends with them. It made sense why she had tried to cling to Adora so hard. Unlike Adora, she had probably known this stuff all along.

"And look at her now." Lonnie hummed a bit, and Adora blinked at… Was that admiration in Lonnie's voice? "She actually made a decent captain and second-in-command before orchestrating the biggest escape of deserters. Now, she's helping make plans with the big leagues of the Rebellion.

"I really underestimated her." Lonnie was quiet for a second, and then quieter she said, "I think we all did."

Adora couldn't really deny it. She knew that she certainly had.

"And people are really taking notice of her. Lots of people got their eye on her."

Well, they really should. Catra deserved all the credit for her work, and given her friend's desire to be useful, that could help a lot. And it'd benefit the rebellion.

"So you may want to…"

Adora frowned and gave Lonnie a quizzical look. She could tell Lonnie was driving to a point, but she had no clue what.

It was like Lonnie was trying to shoot laser beams from her eyes, squinting at her furiously. After a few long seconds, Lonnie sagged and sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Right, not generally observant about these things…" She straightened up and looked Adora in the eye. "Look, if you want to make a move on Catra, you're going to have to do it as soon as possible."

Adora spluttered, red breaking out across her face as Lonnie's meaning hit her like one of Scorpia's tackle hugs. "What? I - I don't… You - "

"I mean, I was shocked when I realized that you two really weren't an item back in the Horde." Lonnie crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall again, examining her nails. "But now that she's stepped out of your shadow, quite a few people are taking an interest in her."

Adora's brain was still trying to reboot. "We - I - Catra - "

"I know that Scorpia at least, quite frankly, adores her."

Adora froze. Oh, crap. Oh, crap, crap, crap.

How would she be able to compete with Scorpia, who had only ever shown Catra unwavering support? Scorpia, who had picked Catra up after Adora left the Horde? Scorpia, who Catra was obviously close to and acted as her second?

"Not to mention that Entrapta loves that she can rant as much as she wants to Catra and Catra listens, though she may have to ask for clarification in simpler language."

Oh, crap. Entrapta had also been there for Catra as well, helping all her plans become reality. Plus, they had bonded when they both thought that Entrapta had been abandoned just like Catra. Sure, they had learned that Entrapta was more of a misunderstanding, and Perfuma had given a teary apology for not looking out for her, but that kind of bond just doesn't fade away.

Both Scorpia and Entrapta were Catra's friends, and Bow did say that the best romantic relationships were built on friendship.

"There are others, too, who seem pretty close to her. But then again, it's none of my business."

Adora was reeling.

It had never occurred to her before that she may have competition when it came to Catra's affections. For so long, it had just been the two of them, and even when they were on opposing sides, they had still been drawn to each other like magnets.

How could there _still _be so much that Adora didn't notice in regards to Catra?

"Hey, Adora."

Adora shrieked as she practically jumped out of her skin. Catra just raised an eyebrow at her, clearly unimpressed.

"He-hey, Catra." Adora ignored the way Lonnie smirked at Adora's reaction.

"Lonnie." Catra gave her a cool nod. "Having fun?"

"You know it."

"Well, we've finished up for now so we won't be stepping on each others' toes over the next few weeks, so we can leave."

"Yay." Lonnie pushed off the wall and walked towards the exit. "I'll ready the skiff."

"Yeah, yeah." Catra turned towards Adora. "You okay?"

"Haha. Yeah." Adora's heart was no longer trying to beat out her chest, so that was better at least. "Leaving so soon?"

"Yeah, Entrapta has some errands she wants me to run in a few nearby ruins so I've got to go."

"Oh." Adora hoped that she didn't look as disappointed as she felt.

Catra chuckled and her expression was fond as she turned to leave. "Sorry, maybe we can hang out next time." Her tail brushed against Adora's hands as she walked past. "See ya."

"Yeah, see you later." Adora raised a hand in farewell, but the flicking of Catra's ear back at her stopped her in her tracks as a thought occurred to her.

Adora and Lonnie hadn't exactly been too quiet, despite not being loud enough to disrupt the meeting.

Catra's hearing had always been better than anyone else's on the squad.

Catra had probably heard their entire conversation.

Adora's face erupted in a blush once more as she slid down the wall. As Glimmer hurried over, asking if she was alright, she knew that she only had herself to blame for any embarrassment she felt at the moment.

Maybe Catra had had a point about how unobservant she was…

* * *

_AN: My notes that I had taken for what I wanted to write for this fic were literally, "Adora realizes she's blind af, Lonnie helps." Lonnie is somewhat interesting to me, because out of all of the squad, she's the one who has made it clear that Catra only had Adora, even among their peers. Lonnie's the one who was harshest to Catra among their peers, both in the current times after Adora left and in the flashbacks showing their previous training. She also made it clear that while they isolated Catra, they did like Adora. In the past, we see Adora chatting all friendly like with them when Catra left to cry alone, and she's the one who pushed that Adora had been their friend, too. And yet, Adora didn't really seem to give them a second thought, even less than what Catra got, when she left. Which sucks for them._

_So I just wanted to offer another perspective of the effects of Adora leaving. _

_ Plus, I just like the idea of Lonnie being fed up with all the pining and longing glances going on between Adora and Catra. She had enough of them sticking together like glue in the Horde, she doesn't need this anymore. And due to Catra's prickly nature and their previous closeness, it never occurred to Adora that there could be some competition there, so that'd also be an eye opener. Lonnie's pretty much only mentioning Scorpia and Entrapta to rile Adora up, though in show Scorpia did seem to have genuine feelings. I do prefer Catradora overall though._


End file.
